Repaying Debts Quickly

The couple immediately began calculating how to use this silver. Lana Evans had never seen so much money in her life. Jasper Cheng, coming from a humble rural family, had only ever seen a few tens of thousands of taels in total. Now, with a pile of gleaming silver ingots worth ten thousand taels in front of them, even Jasper was amazed.

The two of them happily counted their money, completely oblivious to Sam Evans standing at the doorway.

"Daughter, son-in-law, hurry up and pay back what you owe. Only then will we have peace of mind." Honest Sam Evans was determined to clear the family's debts.

Lana Evans turned around and replied perfunctorily, "Oh, Dad, don’t worry about it. We know what we’re doing."

Sam Evans still wasn’t reassured and nagged, "Lana, we’re honest folks. We know how hard it is to earn silver. Our friends trusted us and lent us money. Now that we have it, we should pay them back right away. We can’t let them suffer, especially with New Year’s coming—everyone’s counting on their silver to celebrate."

Jasper Cheng, who was counting the money, found Sam Evans’s long speech tedious and said impatiently, "Oh, Dad, you just focus on getting the money. Leave the repayments to me. The creditors come looking for me every day—how could I not pay them back?"

Lana Evans chimed in from the side, "My husband’s right, Dad. You’re just worrying for nothing. Once we go out, we’ll pay everyone back in full. You don’t have to keep fretting."

Hearing his daughter and son-in-law promise to repay the debts, Sam Evans finally relaxed. Only then did he realize he was starving—he hadn’t eaten anything since getting up that morning.

Sam Evans glanced at Mrs. Sun but didn’t feel like saying a word to her. He slipped into the kitchen, faced the cold stove and empty pots, and started cooking for himself.

Mrs. Sun saw Sam Evans go into the kitchen but didn’t offer to help at all. She just went back inside to keep counting money with her daughter and son-in-law.

Sam Evans simply cooked himself some noodles, scooped them into a big bowl, and squatted by the door, slurping them down while they were still hot.

Just then, Jasper Cheng came out to use the latrine. Seeing Sam Evans squatting by the door eating, he said disdainfully, "Dad, why are you eating like that? It looks so uncouth—people will laugh at us for having no manners."

Sam Evans felt his face flush after being scolded by his son-in-law. Thinking his country ways had embarrassed his daughter, he quickly carried his bowl back to the kitchen and found a small stool to sit on.

After finishing his meal and while washing the bowl, Sam Evans heard voices in the courtyard. He listened carefully and realized the voices sounded familiar—it must be the creditors coming to collect.

Sam Evans quickly put down the bowl, wiped his hands, and ran to the courtyard. Right now, his biggest concern was whether his daughter and son-in-law would really use that silver to pay the creditors.

Seeing Sam Evans standing at the door watching, Lana Evans secretly exchanged a look with Jasper Cheng.

Jasper Cheng understood that his father-in-law wanted to see him hand over the silver to pay the debts.

So Jasper Cheng winked at the creditors and said loudly, "Brothers, things were tight at home lately, and I couldn’t pay you back. Now that we’ve got the silver, we’ll settle up right away."

As he spoke, Jasper Cheng had the creditors come up one by one and hand over their IOUs.

Then, right in front of Sam Evans, Jasper Cheng took out the silver and paid each creditor one by one.

Sam Evans saw Jasper Cheng pay back the money with his own eyes, and only then did he finally relax.